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Even though there is extensive financing it will take the global research community about one year to develop a good vaccine. There are so many labs and companies in China, USA, France, Germany, Australia, Canada doing the research that it is difficult to provide an overview.

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How the Australian Central Bank raised rates starting in May 2002, with the key lending rate at 5.5 % in July 2005, compared to 3.25 % in the USA. The idea was to control the housing bubble which has scaled back, with the Australian economy growing at 2% and this growth coming mostly from the commodities demand in global markets. Meanwhile the US central bank under Greenspan is holding onto the view that its hard to tell when a bubble is occurring, and it would hurt a healthy economy to raise rates to cool developing bubbles. Australia's central bank holds onto the other view that it is wiser to act now before the bubble gets out of hand. Governor MacFarlane of the Australian central bank said in aspeech in early 2003 that a "scaling back" of household borrowing and property development would be in "the longer term interest of the Australian economy." And the state of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, instituted a 2.25% tax on the sale of investment properties. This move discouraged speculators who bought and "flipped" properties for quick profits. By early 2004 a glut of downtown apartment units emerged in Melbourne, and the bubble began to scale back. During the height of the boom consumer spending was growing by more than 6% ayear, in 2005 this has slowed to 3.5% a year. Because of commodity demand, Australia was able to see growth at 2%, and still avoid the longterm effects of a bubble in housing markets by scaling them back. Patrick Barta closes with a reference to Texas in the 1980's and early 1990's, and Southeast Asia in 1997, when housing prices and the economy went down in tandem hitting employment in the oil and banking industries in Texas. In the case of Asia hitting the economies of some Asian countries with the fall of their currencies. He refers to the overstretched US consumer with load of debt, and the possibility of housing and the economy going down in tandem in the USA, similiar to what happened in Texas and Southeast Asia....

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Russell Gold's interview with Shell CEO, Jack Voser. Voser describes his perspective on the global oil situation in the next three decades with a doubling of demand in 40 years, a third of which would come from renewables and 10% from nuclear, the rest from fossil fuels. Natural gas plays a large role in Shell's future strategies. Voser sees the potential of China's shale gas supplies being larger than the U.S., with clearer energy policies than the U.S. The cost of producing China's shale gas will be higher because of complex geology. He sees the potential for the reindustrializing of the U.S. midwest with the abundant shale gas supplies, bringing back jobs that were exported to other countries. Clear standards and regulations are needed to make investments. He thinks it will be very unusual if the U.S. did not grasp this opportunity. Shell's operations generate $470 billion in revenues and its capital budget for 2012 was $32 billion, providing enormous scale and requiring careful planning for long term projects in Australia, Africa, Canada and the Middle East....

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India vs England cricket Test series 2025 ends with Siraj bowling out Atkinson and India winning by 6 runs. "Test cricket" going back to the days of Gary Sobers and Richie Benaud in 1960. In one Test at the Gabba in Brisbane in 1960, the West Indies and England were down in the last ball to one run and the game ended with a tie, both teams at the same score. That Test is considered the most or one of the most memorable of all time. This one with Gill and Siraj, Root and Stokes joins that one. For all days at Headingley, Old Trafford, Lord's, Birmingham, and the Oval, crowds packed the stadium, and a billion people watched the series in India, UK, Australia, US, and other countries on television.

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Brilliant batting from Steve Smith with 210 in the first innings and a quick 82 in the second innings for the Ashes Test at Old Trafford. Australia set England a goal of 383. Pat Cummins took two wickets with England not scoring, with Pat Root bowled out in the first ball. England at 18 for two wickets have a uphill battle to save the Test. Steve Smith was adept at handling all the different bowling. 

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Nelson Schwartz provides an exceptional indepth account on the changing leadership role of James Gorman at Morgan Stanley. Gorman is from Melbourne, Australia. He studied law before joining Columbia Business School. Consulting with McKinsey was followed with a job at Merrill Lynch. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2006 before the collapse of Merrill. Compared to his predecessor John Mack in the CEO role, James Gorman is a quiet type who prefers to stay out of the limelight.

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Out of reach housing prices in Australia prompted this story in the NYT about an offer of free land in a town with 113 degrees summers. The median price of a house in Sydney is $1.3 million showing something has gone wrong for families and workers in Australia.

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Labour's executive director of Policy from 2020 to 2022, says steps easy to understand and grasp, and which can be effectively implemented to deliver are needed for Labour party to win confidence of the British people. Claire Ainsley says Australia is doing this under Mr. Albanese. Mr. Scholz is doing this in Germany. "Keir Starmer's embrace of a mission driven approach to government provides opportunity to tackle the root causes of stagnating wages and volatile costs." "Whether this tentative revival can be turned into durable majorities will rest on whether we can deliver on the change that people are crying out for. If voters give the centre left a chance to be in government again, then the changes Labour instigates must make a difference in people's lives." She says centre left governments in the US, Germany, Australia offer a role model of how action can be taken to improve the lives of workers and families. Other centre left governments in Canada, Spain, are striving to do this also. To make simple to understand and quantify pledges to the people and deliver on them step by concrete step. A similar approach is taken in India and in states in India. Germany is an example. Ainsley says Germany made 4 simple pledges to back its bigger visions. Solid delivery on wages, pensions cost of living support, energy, and public services. ...

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An extraordinary moment in history took place at Rajghat Gandhiji Memorial in New Delhi on September 10, 2023. The leaders of 20 largest nations from all over the world observed a moment of silence after devotional hymns at the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. Click on original article to pull up the larger picture and take our On the Spot Quiz on which countries were paired together on either side. On either side of Modi are Widodo (Indonesia) and Lula (Brazil), next to them either side Macron and Biden, Albanese and Sunak, EU's Michel and Leyen , Erdogan and Yeong, Fernandez and Meloni, Qiang and Kishida, Lavrov and Scholz, Sissi and Ramaphosa, Rutte and Trudeau. Can you tell which countries each pair of leaders are from? Answer below for our first On the Spot Quiz. Answer: France and US, Australia and UK, EU's pair, Turkey and South Korea, Argentina and Italy, China and Japan, Russia and Germany, Egypt and South Africa. It is an exceptionally well thought out arrangement. With Indonesia and Brazil on either side of India, you have the core of the aspiring population of 1.7 billion people more than anywhere else on the planet Earth, who think alike, act alike. And next to them are leaders of France and US, Australia and Britain, and the European Union, who are resolutely backing the shift in agenda- debt assistance, tripling renewable energy, and a new infrastructure building effort for ease of living.   ...

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Zelensky is going to Hiroshima to make his own case for support directly to all G7 leaders. The fact that G7 leaders are meeting in Japan also has significance as Japan unlike Europe with NATO faces Russian presence in its northern islands and China in the South China Sea and around Taiwan, North Korea, with only the American defense agreement in any conflict. Japan, Australia and India would want to see a clear end to the conflict in Eastern Europe that also sends a message that the status quo will be preserved on Taiwan and other issues in Asia. 

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The NYT looks inside the fight against a million acre fire in California. Fires were fought in previous years against hundred thousand acre fires. A million acre fire is something else. It cost $610 million over 3 months to fight the Massive Dixie fire in California, according to the head of CalFire. It took thousands of personnel, hundreds of bulldozers, aircraft and other equipment to fight the fire. Can the cost of fighting so many large fires be met in the future? Australia and California, Greece and other part of the world experienced unprecedented level of fires in 2021.

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Glynn gives a vivid account of what driving was like in the old days in Australia, when his dad drove the family in a Holden station wagon from suburban Sydney to the coastal towns in New South Wales. He describes a trip down the Buli Pass.

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The huge challenges faced by a nation of 1.2 billion people and its border relations with China are the subject of this interview with the Australian Envoy to India. He says India faces some unique challenges but shares the same values of all the democracies in the region and in the world. He says rhetoric is one thing and practical action is another, saying that the QUAD is moving at that level.

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At a time when multilateral financial and other institutions are not working properly on behalf of countries in the Global South, the G20 is seen as the place where the poor countries can find a voice. The African Union was admitted to the G20 nations with the support of India and the US at the New Delhi Summit. Before this the only nation from Africa was South Africa. The other countries are the original G8- US, Canada, Germany, France, European Union, Britain, Italy, Japan. These countries represented the already advanced economies. To these nations were added the newly advanced economies of Russia, South Korea and China, Australia for 11 economies. The 7 rapidly developing nations added are India, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.

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UK is considering following Australia to prevent a mental health crisis for children by banning mobile phones from schools.

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The reopening of the economy is being stalled and lockdowns, restrictions, reinstated in July 2020 as the pandemic surges. The lockdowns are being reinstated in parts of Australia, in Bihar, India and other countries, and in other places such as California restrictions are back in place. Wearing masks in public spaces is also mandatory in Britain and France as prevention measures are being taken. In Japan wearing masks is a habit from before the pandemic. India, the U.S. and Brazil, Mexico are seeing a surge.

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This is the first 5 match Test series since 1991-92 Tour of Australia by India- 34 years. It starts with Pat Cummins leading his Aussie team against  the Indian team led by India's captain Rohit Sharma on November 22, 2024 in Perth. India is coming off a 3-0 loss to New Zealand. Wicket takers for Australia in the last 2020-21 test series Cummins and Hazelwood, for India Siraj and Ashwin. Run scorers Labuschagne and Smith, Pant and Pujara.

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The Trans Pacific Trade Agreement TPP adds so liitle, only 0.04% to Britain's GDP in 15 year from 2023, says the Office of Budget responsibility in Britain. It is this trade agreement ignoring American workers that Mr. Obama and Hillary Clinton pushed for leading to the Democrats defeat in the 2016 election. Most of the trade deals including ones with Canada and Australia add up to no more than 1% to Britain's GDP when the loss of the EU through Brexit means a loss of 4% of GDP for Britain. This is how much the trade deals were over hyped by the Brexiters Johnson and Sunak.

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The first Quad Summit of leaders of US, Australia, India and Japan takes place on March 11, 2021. The Quad is a force for good says the Indian prime minister, with its focus on vaccines, climate change and emerging technologies. 

The leaders affirmed the need to ensure equitable access to the vaccines for speedy economic recovery and benefitting global health. Mr. Biden affirmed the need for the Indo-Pacific region to be "governed by international law, free of coercion and upholding universal values."

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The first trips by the Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin show the Biden administration's priorities. Efforts to strengthen ties with Japan and South Korea giving the Indo-Pacific region top priority with the emergence of China as a challenge to US interests. Next stop is India. Even before the trips to Korea and Japan, a virtual summit was setup between the Quad countries, the democracies of Australia, US, Japan and India that are committed to an open and free Indo-Pacific region.

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Increased maritime and defense cooperation as Dominic Raab, UK Foreign Secretary visits India and has talks with Jaishankar, India's External Affairs minister. For the UK there is no stronger partner than India looking east, says Raab. India, UK and Australia form a core of the British Commonwealth of nations, an idea that brings together the English speaking world in Asia and Africa. After Brexit Britain is free to form its own relationships based on its history, and links of culture and language. Boris Johnson will visit India in January 2021.

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A survey of immigrants all over the world asked about their new living standards shows Mexico at the top with Taiwan, Portugal and Spain. And Kuwait at the bottom. Surprise is that New Zealand ranks next to Kuwait at the bottom. The reason is the high cost of living and jobs not paying enough, fewer opportunities, a growing rich poor divide. New Zealand ranks high in the natural environment and climate, yet the cost of living is too high in relation to salaries. New Zealand ranked below global averages in worklife- in feeling fairly paid for work, seeing purpose in work, or liking workhours. By comparison Australia ranks ninth from the top- for the economy, compensation and work hours. 

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More than one in four houses in Australia have solar panels on the rooftops. In Queensland and New South Wales half of homes have solar panels. This includes Sydney. This is more than most places, including California, Germany, U.S. Britain, France. In California less than 10% of utilities customers have solar panels in their homes. Rooftop solar provides 5% of its electricity in Australia, compared to 1% in the U.S. 

Much of this is because of states offering incentives and it saves money for homeowners. Australian conservatives see this as a way to promote their rugged individualism.